


The Sophisticate

by Torra



Category: Riptide (TV)
Genre: First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-27
Updated: 2009-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-03 21:06:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torra/pseuds/Torra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Look at that guy.  When you were dating her, did your tongue hang out like that?"<br/>"No, man, I'm a sophisticate, I don't drool.  I stutter."  <br/></p><ul>(Nick & Cody 1x06 'The Mean Green Love Machine')</ul>
            </blockquote>





	The Sophisticate

"Oh _man_, that was embarrassing!"

"Oh come on, Murray, it wasn't that bad."

"Wasn't that bad?" Murray turned on him, arms swinging wildly. "I don't think I've stumbled over that many words since I learned to say 'mama'!"

Nick gave a small laugh and shook his head, clapping a hand on Murray's shoulder companionably. "She was a _very_ pretty girl, I'm sure she's pretty used to it by now."

Murray frowned, "She's used to me stuttering at her? I just met the woman!"

Nick sighed, dropping his head. "I mean she's probably used to _men_ stuttering around her. Not you specifically. Men are notorious for losing the gift of speech around a pretty woman." Nick shrugged and walked over to his favorite chair, letting himself fall back into it easily.

"Well, not you." Murray sighed and took the next chair over, a tangle of too-long arms and legs. "You _always_ know the right thing to say to pretty girls."

Nick gave a wild, pseudo-embarrassed smile, "Well, yeah, but I'm a special case, Murray. Best not to compare the two."

"Gee, thanks." Murray growled, falling back into the seat further, frowning at the floor.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that, just that we're different, you and I. I've had more experience." Nick leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, "I'm not exactly your typical case. But look, take Cody for instance, back when we first met, that guy couldn't get out two words in a row. After the first few weeks, I started to think my name really was 'N-N-Nick.'"

Murray's frown deepened, disbelieving. "Really?"

Nick shrugged and sat back again. "Yeah, really. Back when we first met, I never knew anyone with so much trouble stringing two words together."

"Well, how'd he get so far in the military with that, then? I mean, wouldn't the army have pulled him out first?"

"Not during a war." Nick shrugged.

"All right, I can understand that, but what about after the war, when you were MP's? I mean, you can't really have a commanding officer who can't say 'fire' on the first try, right?"

Nick frowned. "I never really thought about it. He didn't do it _all_ the time, after all. Just some words, you know?"

"Like 'Nick'?" Murray asked.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, like 'Nick'. I mean, he stopped, eventually."

"Really?" Murray sat up, interested. "How? I mean, what was his trick?"

Nick shrugged again. "I don't know. It just sorta...stopped." He frowned. "One day he just started to call me 'Nick', with no extra letters first."

Murray shook his head and flopped back into the chair again. "I don't know, Nick, that seems pretty hard to believe. Not only that the Army didn't single him out, but that it just suddenly disappeared. I mean, stutters don't just _go away_."

"I don't know, that's all brain stuff, I don't know how it works anyhow."

"That's just it." Murray leaned further forward. "It's literally how the brain works. Or at least that's the theory. It's thought that stutters, bad ones at least, are actually caused by mis-fires in the brain itself. That's not something that just magically heals and goes away."

Nick frowned, starring at a spot on the floor. "No, I suppose not."

"And I mean, I've never known Cody to stutter, not even once! Not even around a pretty lady! To think that he not only got cured, but cured so completely that he doesn't stumble _at all_? Not even when he's stressed or tired? I don't think I've _ever_ heard of that."

Nick's frown deepened in thought. "No, no, me either."

"Didn't Cody _ever_ talk about why he stopped? Or how?" Murray asked.

Nick shrugged distractedly. "No, not really, but I never asked, either."

"And you're sure it wasn't situational? Like mine was today?"

Nick looked at Murray from the corner of his eye for a moment, before looking back at the floor. "Not really. I mean, maybe. That time in Mexico he said the stuttered when he really liked a girl, but that was it. I didn't really think about it at the time."

Murray nodded, suddenly excited. "That must be it! He must have had a crush on someone at the base. Were there any women around he dated?"

Nick shrugged himself deeper into the chair. "Dating's not really allowed in the Army, Murray, you know that."

Murray snorted and rolled his eyes. "Like that ever stopped either of you?"

Nick shrugged one shoulder at that.

"Come on, were there _any_ women?"

"Well, the medical staff was mostly female. I do remember there was a blond doctor on staff, too, the only woman doctor on base. She seemed to like him well enough."

Murray clapped his hands, excited. "Well there you go, then! That must be it. He stuttered because he liked her. Was she still around when he stopped?"

Nick stared at the carpet as he thought back. "No, no I don't think so. I think she got her papers by then, went civilian."

Murray jumped up. "Well, that doesn't really help me, but at least I know he got over it! Maybe I can ask him how, since he doesn't seem to do it anymore."

"Yeah." Nick nodded, distracted again. "Yeah, you do that."

"Gee, thanks, Nick." Murray gave him a slap on the shoulder as he moved past. "You always know the right thing to say."

Nick sighed.  


* * *

  
"So anyhow, that's when the cow jumped over the moon. I'm not sure, but personally, I think steroids were involved. Or at least a running start." Cody watched Nick out of the corner of his eye. Nick just _uh-huh_-ed and nodded, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Cody sighed. "So that's when I got really bored, and decided Dooley had to die."

"Right."

"Yeah, I just tossed him into the water, held his head under for awhile. He turned an interesting shade of purple about five minutes in."

"Uh-huh," Nick nodded again, then frowned, before finally turning his head and asking, "Wait, what was that about a cow?"

Cody laughed, rolling onto his side to face his friend. "It's about time, I was wondering when you'd come back to Earth."

Nick's frown deepened. "What?"

Cody shook his head, still laughing. "Nick, man, you've been staring off into space and ignoring me all night." Cody shrugged and rolled onto his back again. "Personally, I'm just glad you finally seem to be outta that _mood_ of yours, even if you are just staring off into space now, instead of _glaring_ off into space like you were all day."

Nick sat up. "I wasn't in a _mood_."

Cody snorted. "You, Nick, were in the _moodiest_ of moods. You have been for _days_ now. Even Murray's noticed, so you know it's bad."

"I haven't been--" Nick snapped, and then stopped himself and dropped his head to his chest. "Okay, maybe I've been a little..._distant_ today..."

"Try all week, Nick. You even yelled at Dooley."

"Dooley deserved to be yelled at." Nick flopped onto his back.

"No argument, but you never actually _do_. He always gives you that good-boy smile and you remember he's really a decent kid, despite how he actually _acts_, and you forgive him." Cody sat up, pushing himself up to rest his back against the wall at the head of his bed. "Come on, man, you gonna tell me what's wrong, or are you going to make me start guessing?"

Nick just sighed again, eyes forward.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Okay, guessing it is. Let's see...you got a parking ticket on the Vette." Nick rolled his eyes. "No? Okay, you got a _flying_ ticket on the _Mimi_?" No comment. "Not a ticket, then. Hmmm, how about you asked Max out on a date and she laughed in your face." Nick glared. Cody laughed. "Okay, not Max. You asked _Straightaway_ on a--" Cody cut off with a laugh as the pillow hit the side of his head. "Well, you only get this bad when it's relationship issues, so it was either Straightaway or _Quinlan_, and I just didn't wanna _think_ about that." He gave a mock shudder.

Cody threw the pillow back and Nick caught it gracefully and tucked it back under his head with another sigh. "It's not that big of a deal, man, okay? Just got something stuck in my head and it won't go away." He shrugged. "I'll be fine again in a few days, don't worry."

"Got what stuck in your head? From the way you're acting, I doubt it's a song."

Nick shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing, Cody, really. I'll be fine."

"Come on, man, I'm your best friend. If you can't tell me, who can you tell?"

Nick raised one eyebrow high. "Do you see me trying to tell _anyone_?"

Cody rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Come on, Nick, what's going on?"

"There's nothing you can do about it, Cody, just leave it, okay? It's not really something I wanna discuss right now, all right?"

"Come on, man, it won't get better if you don't talk about it."

Nick snorted. "That's rich, coming from you!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Cody frowned and pushed himself forward a little.

Nick just laughed and shook his head, looking a little happier at least. "You're hardly the poster child for discussing your feelings and open displays of emotion, man."

Cody had the good grace to look a little abashed, and settled back down. "You know I'm not all that good with words. Doesn't mean I don't feel."

Nick rolled his eyes. "You're _great_ with words, just not words about _feelings_."

Cody shrugged. "Yeah, okay, but that doesn't mean I can't _listen_ pretty well."

Nick gave a great sigh and fiddled with his blankets for a minute, pulling them higher, then pushing them back down. "It's nothing, man, really. I just sorta realized something, you know? Something I should have noticed years ago and didn't."

"Something that's bad enough to put you in a funk for days on end?"

Nick kept his eyes on his hands and shrugged. "Not bad, just...kind of depressing, I guess. Not really something I _wanted_ to realize, because I also realized I couldn't do anything about it. It was a long time ago."

Cody rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow. "What was?"

Nick didn't say anything.

"Come on, man, you had a good start there, finish the sentence. _What_ was a long time ago, but still powerful enough to upset you this badly now?"

Nick kept his eyes down, pulling the blankets up again. "I just...I just realized that I had the chance to be with somebody, but I didn't see it in time, and now it's gone. I lost my chance." One shoulder went up and back down in a half shrug. "It's just a depressing thing to realize, you know? That you could have been really happy with someone, but you weren't on the ball enough to realize it until it was too late. We really could have had something. Something more then just friends. But I didn't know, and now it's gone."

Cody blinked a few times, then shook his head. "Man, that...that _sucks_. I...I don't really know what to say to that, Nick."

Nick sighed and reached up to flick off his light. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it."

"Yeah, but Nick..." Cody trailed off as Nick rolled over, pulling the blankets up over his shoulder.

"Just go to sleep, Cody. I'll be fine in the morning, okay? I promise. Just go to sleep."

Cody opened his mouth, but found he didn't really know what to say. Finally he just shook his head and reached up to hit the light. "Goodnight, Nick."

Nick didn't say anything.  


* * *

  
Cody hummed as he worked on breakfast. Nick had been up and gone before Cody was even awake, probably in an effort to spare his friends from his _mood_. Most likely he was off working on the Mimi, or polishing the Vette in a park somewhere. Nick didn't necessarily like to draw a lot of attention to himself, but he _loved_ drawing attention to his car. He often worked on it where people would see, just so they'd stop and ask him about it. Give him a chance to brag a bit.

Not that he'd ever admit it, of course. But he did.

"Oh, Cody, just who I wanted to talk to."

Cody turned and gave Murray a smile as he came up the steps from his room. "Morning, Boz. Coffee?"

"Yes, please." Murray came up behind him just as Cody finished pouring the coffee into Murray's favorite whale mug (Nick insisted the set of mugs were all identical, except for the one with the chip in the bottom, but Murray insisted this particular one fit his hand best, and always preferred to drink from it). Cody finished plating up his eggs, and carried his breakfast over to the table. Murray slid in across from him and buried his face in his coffee for a while.

Cody was halfway though his eggs before he asked, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Murray?"

"Oh!" Murray sat up and brightened, "Yes, of course. I meant to ask you days ago, but I got distracted with the case. I wanted to ask you about how you got past your stutter!"

Cody frowned. "My stutter? When did I ever stutter?"

"Oh, not around me." Murray waved him off before wrapping his hands around his mug again. "But Nick said you used to stutter around him when you first met. Back when you had that crush on that lady doctor."

Cody's eyebrows shot up. "Back when I _what_?"

"Had that crush on the lady doctor. Nick didn't tell me her name."

Cody frowned, "Nick actually _said_ I had a crush on her?"

"Well, no," Murray shrugged, frowning a little. "He didn't figure that out until we were talking, then it sorta slid into place. You see, we were talking about how I stuttered _terribly_ around Susanna. You remember Susanna, right? The other day on the docks? Well, I was trying to talk to her, when--"

Cody raised a hand, cutting him off. "Nick actually _said_ I had a crush on Doctor Hanks?"

"Well," Murray sat back, frowning again momentarily. "No, not so much. But he did figure you must have been dating. Your stutter disappeared after she left, and all. Anyhow, as I was saying, I was trying to talk to Susanna when--"

"I never _dated_ Dr. Hanks. You're not supposed to date on base, you know."

"Yes, yes, Nick said that, too, but it was the only thing we could figure. After all, you stuttered when you met Nick, but she was the only woman you spent any time around, and it stopped when she left."

Cody sighed, letting his head hang a little. "And so Nick assumed that to mean I was dating her?"

Murray shrugged. "I suppose so. I wasn't there, after all. You see, he was trying to tell me about your stutter, and how you got it to go away..."

"I got it to go away by seeing Dr. Hanks."

Murray nodded, jumping on the topic again. "Yes, _exactly_! You were seeing Dr. Hanks, and when she left--"

"No, Murray, I mean, I was _seeing her_, I wasn't _seeing_ her. She was my _doctor_. _For_ my stutter."

"She was?" Murray looked very confused. "Now I _know_ there are rules about not allowing doctors to date their patients!"

Cody slid his hands forward and dropped his forehead down onto the table, jumping back up when it landed in his half finished plate of eggs. He growled and grabbed a napkin to wipe his forehead. "That's what I'm trying to tell you, Murray, I wasn't _dating_ her. I _was_ her patient. She was _treating_ me for my stutter. It wasn't really a problem, except around..." He trailed off, napkin still pressed to his eyebrow. "Oh. Oh!"

"What? What is it?"

Cody groaned and let his head fall forward again, catching himself before he hit the plate this time. "I just figured out why Nick was in such a bad mood." He paused, then shot upright. "OH! Oh, I just figured out why he was in such a bad mood!" He snapped his fingers at Murray, "He was _upset_ about Dr. Hanks! He thought _that's_ how I got rid of my stutter!"

Murray was thoroughly confused now, "But that _is_ how you got rid of your stutter, you just finished telling me that."

Cody waved him off. "No, no, not that. I mean," he rolled his head, "oh man, that all makes sense now. He didn't _know_! All these years, I thought he _knew_!"

"Knew _what_, Cody?"

"That I didn't _like her_! I liked--" He cut off, eyes wide. His voice got soft, suddenly. "He didn't _know_. I didn't like _her_. She was widowed with two grown kids, for pete's sake." He sighed. "I didn't like _her_. Oh wow."

"Is that a _good_ wow?" Murray's brow was furrowed and he was leaning forward over his coffee.

Cody scowled at his plate and rubbed the back of his neck with his napkin free hand. "I...I'm not sure, Boz, I'm really not. I mean...it _might_ be, if he still thinks so, too..."

"All right," Murray looked very confused, but willing to play along for his friend's sake, "and how do you find out if he does feel...however it is you want him to feel about you _not_ dating this woman a decade ago?"

Cody sat back in his seat and thought about it. Finally, when Murray was nearly finished with his coffee, he asked, "Hey, Murray...you got any plans tonight?"

"No," Murray shrugged, "I was just going to do some work on the Roboz. I want to play around with his listening circuits, see if I can't get him to recognize voice patterns at a greater distance. You see, I have this theory that--"

"Do you think you could maybe make some _other_ plans for tonight?" Cody asked, his voice sounding quiet and still a little stunned. "Maybe some plans involving a double feature at the cineplex downtown?"  


* * *

  
Nick didn't get home until just after dark. He was surprised to see the interior of the Riptide dark. The Jimmy was gone, so he supposed his friends might just be out running errands. Or maybe they went to a movie or something without him. He hadn't exactly been good company lately, he wouldn't blame them. Still, coming home to a dark boat, knowing it was going to be empty wasn't a pleasant thought. He wasn't used to going all day without seeing either of the guys, and he started to seriously miss them around noon. He'd nearly come home then, but didn't think he was quite ready to face Cody yet. His feelings were still a little too close to the surface. He'd been able to hide them in the dark last night, but he could still feel them there, written across his face come morning.

He really didn't want to lose Cody over this. Not after all these years.

To realize you were not only in love with your best friend (which wasn't news to Nick, he'd known he was in love with Cody for almost as long as they'd been friends), but that you'd actually _had_ your chance and blown it..._that_ was the real kicker. It was one thing to go his whole life believing he never stood a chance, it was another entirely to realize you _had_ a chance, but had been too blind to see it when it was happening.

And this really wasn't something you got _second_ chances over. And it's not like Cody had continued to show interest in him, he'd made his feelings for women pretty clear after that. His actions for Nick had never _changed_, but he'd also done nothing to give Nick any clue that he might still be interested. But he openly chased after, and in one very terrifying instance for Nick, fall in love with women. And _only_ women.

Nick had never considered himself to be gay before Cody, and after realizing he _was_ in love with a man, he still didn't generally consider himself homosexual. It didn't feel so much like he was interested in men, but that he was interested in _Cody_. And no one else, male _or_ female could truly capture his interest after that. He was in love with his best friend, and everyone else paled in comparison. A passing stranger or a pair of pretty eyes, belonging to either a man or a woman, just didn't hold that same power over him.

He'd spent the whole day wondering how different things might have been, had he been more on the ball back then. If he'd actually _realized_ that the _stutter_ was Cody's way of showing interest, how different his life might have turned out.

Maybe he could have spent the last ten years in a _relationship_. Maybe they could have spent those years sharing a bed, instead of just sleeping across from each other. Maybe they could have had a life together.

Or maybe he would have fucked up in some huge, un-fixable way, and lost Cody early on. Or maybe Cody would have still fallen in love with Sheila, or Marcy, or whatever she was calling herself these days, and Nick _still_ would have lost him. Maybe he still would be alone right now, only without even his friend at his side. Just an ex-lover where his best friend had once stood.

Either direction his thoughts took him in, depressed him. He wasn't very good company for _anyone_ today, even the few people who'd wandered up to talk to him about his Vette.

He wondered how long this depression would last. He didn't want to chase his friend away now that he'd realized he'd fucked up all those years ago. But the feeling of _loss_ was so intense, so prevalent in his mind right now, he wasn't sure _how_ to shake it off. The fact that it was so long ago, and he had _no_ way to fix it, only make that feeling of loss worse, not better. Time had _not_ healed this wound.

He sighed as he hopped onto the boat, sliding the side door open, and then closed again behind him.

He froze just inside the doorway as he realized that not only was the boat not empty, but it wasn't actually _dark_ inside, either. Instead of true darkness, he found candles. He wasn't sure how many, but enough that he could clearly see Cody sitting at the table, a dinner for two set out in front of him.

Cody stood up as he saw Nick, but nothing came out of his mouth when he opened it. Finally Nick had to ask, "Am I interrupting something?" He jerked his thumb behind him, "I didn't know you had a date or anything." He felt something sharp cut inside him even as he made the implied offer to leave.

"No!" Cody took a step forward, but froze again. "No, don't go. I don't...I don't have a date." He gave a helpless little shrug. "At least, not if you leave."

Nick frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" He didn't want to show what he was thinking when he'd come in. For just that instant, that bright and shining instant, he'd thought maybe, just _maybe_ this was all for him. He couldn't let Cody see that.

Cody searched his face, looking at him hard, trying to see something, trying to _find_ something. But apparently he didn't see it, because his shoulders slumped and he turned around to blow out the candle in the center of the table. "Nothing man, forget it. It was a stupid idea."

"What?" Nick stumbled a few steps forward in the darkness, his mind making leaps and jumps he wasn't sure were safe. "Cody? What's going on."

Cody kept his back to Nick and sighed, bracing his hands in front of him on the table, still leaning over a little from how he'd blown out the candle. "I guess it's nothing. I just thought...after last night..." He stood up. "And then I talked to Murray and... But it was stupid. I guess I just jumped to conclusions I shouldn't have."

Nick felt the stabbing pain in his gut again, only this time it was for the opposite reason. "Cody?"

Cody waved him away, still not looking at him. "Look, it was stupid. I just had a thought based on something Murray said, and it was a stupid idea. Just pretend you didn't see any of this, okay?"

Nick was across the room without even thinking about it, but froze with his hands hovering over Cody's shoulders before he could touch him. "Cody?" His voice wavered, uncertain and afraid, but with some hope in it now. "Cody, look at me."

"Nick, really, this was just a--"

"Please."

Cody paused at the 'please', before finally nodding and turning around. He kept his eyes on Nick's chest, rather then look at him. "I guess my secret's kinda out now, huh?" He shrugged. "It was a stupid thing to do, I know, but I thought...for a minute there, I hoped that maybe..." he trailed off.

Nick couldn't resist it anymore. He brought his hands up, cupping Cody's cheeks between his palms. Cody's eyes shot upwards, wide and surprised as their skin touched.

With a tenderness that surprised even him, Nick leaned forward and brushed their lips together. Uncertain. Scared. Hopeful.

When Cody didn't pull away immediately, Nick leaned in again, and repeated the action. This time Cody breathed out hard, the air escaping from him all in a rush.

Nick leaned in a third time, and this time Cody's hands went up to bracket his sides, curling around him gently.

Cody initiated the fourth kiss. And the fifth.

Nick lost count after the sixth.

Some indeterminate point later, Nick was leaning back against the table, with Cody between his legs, leaning into him, kissing him, rubbing softly against him with little moans. Nick was kissing down his neck when he asked, "It was me, wasn't it? Why you were stuttering? It was me, not the doctor, right?"

Cody groaned as Nick bit into the tendon along his shoulder, digging his fingers deeply into Nick's hair. "Yes, it was. God, I didn't think you knew. You never _said_..."

Nick nipped hard, drawing another groan from Cody before he licked at the spot in apology. "I didn't know. Not back then, not that you felt the same. I had already been so in love with you for so long."

Cody's whole body jumped when Nick let the words slip out. He hadn't meant to say them, but with Cody in his arms, Cody's taste in his mouth, they felt so _natural_, like something he'd already said a thousand times.

Cody pulled back and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss, licking and sucking and nipping at him, all in the same breath.

"Thought I never...never...had a chance." He gasped, turning his head to go deeper. "Thought you didn't feel the same. Thought you never noticed."

"I didn't." Nick kissed back, "Not then, not about that." He gasped as Cody rubbed their cocks together though the cloth of their pants. "I was so busy trying to make sure you didn't figure _me_ out." he groaned.

Cody pulled away with a breathy laugh. They both gasped air into their lungs as their bodies parted, just enough for them to breathe again. Finally, when he wasn't panting anymore, Cody asked, "N-N-_Nick_! Wh-wh-ould you g-go out with me?"

Nick's smile was blinding.

He let his kiss be the answer they both wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> Biggest thanks over to my beta Catyah, and any mistakes left are my own, of course. This was actualy the first Riptide fic I started, but I set it asside after the first section when I didn't feel I had a good enough hold of their voices yet. After I had a few fics under my belt, I went back to it and finished it. I hope you all like it.


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